• Use your prime real estate (the top of the web page at eye height) wisely to promote key products, services and messages
• Make your corporate branding stand out
• Create credibility
• The text used, use a copywriter if necessary
• Create useful content eg articles / white papers
• Does it meet your users? objectives? ASK!

Web Site Accessibility

• Will it work on PCs? MACs? Firefox?
• Does it make sense to less IT literate users? (35% of over 55?s are internet users ? source BBC News)

User Experience

• Are the options clearly visible, and presented in a logical hierarchy?
• How many clicks does it take to get to the desired content?

Research by the Software Usability Research Lab suggests that the following website features are found annoying by users:

• Pop up boxes when visiting a shopping site
• Banner advertisements
• Congested web pages (too many ads, images etc)
• Slow load times
• Difficult to find a specific product

Web Site Content

• Is this pitched at the right level of user? (Segment!)
• Is this content updated regularly enough so that your visitors will return?

Marketing

Your website has to be promoted and found by potential customers. Consider:
Search Engine Optimisation
Pay Per Click
Email Marketing
Offline Promotion

Tracking and Optimising

Continually monitor the effectiveness of your website and optimise it. Make sure you pay attention to website statistics.

This is only a small summary of the seminar. For more information, or for Simon to deliver a seminar to your networking group, please call 01202 414 101.